Captain Shorey Was Front Page News When London Sold Papers

By Mary Rudge
Part 3

The first and only Black Captain sailing from the West Coast, Captain William T. Shorey, was frequently front page news. Jack London heard Captain Shorey’s stories in person, when Shorey was at home in Oakland, and, from the time he was in the third grade,  Jack sold papers with these stories. Selling newspapers was a way even very young children earned money. In a video display, at the African American Museum and Library, Ida Johnson-Dunson tells that when she, at age 6, with her brother, age 7 lived on Pine Street, they sold newspapers at Pine and 7th Street where the Railroad met the Ferry at the Mole.  Jerri Lange, TV personality and author of “Jerri, a Black Woman in Media” also recounts learning the importance of the media when selling papers as a child.
People, all over California, loved reading about the exploits of  Captain Shorey and his courageous wife and children who went with him on his whale hunting voyages.
Captain Shorey’s daughter, Victoria, at age 9 years old  wrote her own account of going with her family on a whale hunting voyage, describing life on board ship, where they went weeks at a time without seeing land and she missed her friends back in Oakland. She told of the horrible smell as pieces of whale were boiled in huge caldrons to get the oil. It smelled so strong, there was a saying that “ships that could not yet see a whaler could smell one.”
A story about Victoria was published in the newspaper when her father brought his ship into port in Oakland with Baby Shorey (three year old Victoria, his youngest daughter) at the wheel. The paper said, “Commanded by Baby Shorey and the baby’s father, Captain Shorey, the whaling bark Andrew Hicks came home from the north this morning…. the baby and the whaler have been at sea since February, most of the time in Okhotsk waters (near Japan).
“The baby is only 3 years old and we must give her due credit for so young a Navigator. She and her father steered their bark farther to the North than any other whaler ventured this year.”
“Victoria is the name of the 3 year old child that has been hunting whales all summer while most other children have been engaged in less venturesome occupations…”
“ Victoria is a remarkable sailor,” said her mother, “She knows the ropes and has perfect command of her father.”
Ju.ia Ann Shelton (mother of Victoria, her older sister, Zenobia, and later William Junior) could also navigate a ship.
Zenobia,  born August 1888, became ill and died, Nov 26, 1908 at age 20, aboard the whaling bark, Gay Head, in the Hawaiian Islands.  She was brought for burial to Mountain View Cemetery, Piedmont Ave. in Oakland. After Zenobia Pearl’s death,  Captain Shorey retired from the sea.  He became a member of the Advisory Board of the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored people at Beulah, near Oakland.  His wife, Julia Ann, became the director.
Victoria Grace  continued to be frequently mentioned in newspapers  for her accomplishments.  One story, published in The Oakland Sunshine newspaper by editor John A Wilds, when Victoria was a student at Commercial High School in Oakland, reported that she won a gold medal for her typing speed on a Remington typewriter and a certificate for proficiency on an Underwood typewriter.
The Shorey family has left a legacy in Oakland. A West Oakland street intersecting with Pine, is named Shorey Street.  Captain Shorey Community Center, 1030 Oakdale Ave, provides child care; (noted by newspaper columnist Wanda Sabir, Wanda’s Picks, April 25, 2007).
Jack London, who,  as a child, was befriended by Shorey  admired and copied Shorey’s lifestyle, in many ways. He wanted to design, build, and captain, a ship. But Jack took on the obligations of marriage very young..And Bess Maddern, a math whiz who had tutored Jack so he could pass the exams to enter U.C. Berkeley and whom he soon  married,  decided, after their daughters were born (Joan, when Jack was 21, Bess, “Becky”, when Jack was 22), that she did not want to share his lifestyle and wanted no part of adventures at sea. Jack left Bess, who divorced him. He had already chosen his second wife, Charmain Kittridge, who became the ship-mate he wanted.
When, rich from his writing, Jack built a ship, which he called the Snark,  Charmain fearlessly sailed with Jack and learned, like Mrs Shorey, to navigate a ship, with its tall mast and sails, and like Mrs Shorey and Captain Shorey, Jack and his mate sailed to Hawaii and other far away places. Sadly, unlike, Captain and Mrs Shorey, Jack was unable to have his daughters, Joan and Becky, share his life. Bess, refused to allow them to be with Charmain.  Charmain and Jack had two daughters who died, one as miscarriage and one daughter, Joy, at three days old.
Jack said his books, more than 50, and the hundreds of articles and news stories he wrote, became his children. He lives on in them.
References and sources include Negro Trailblazers, by Delilah Leontium Beasley; For Love of Jack London, His Life with Jennie Prentiss by Mary Rudge and Eugene Lasartemay; Steven Lavoie of the Oakland Library History Room; Larry Odoms of the Oakland Library Periodical Room; Shannon McQueen and Lavera Wilson, Library Assistants at the African American Museum and Library, Oakland.
Readers who would like to experience what a ship, similar to the several ships captained by Captain Shorey, was  like, can tour the Balclutha,  moored off the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco, along with several other historic ships spanning decades of maritime history, creating a floating Maritime Park Museum.   Displayed in the Balclutha’s hold, is a story about Captain Shorey. Ranger- guided tours are available, and both the pier and the ships are handicapped accessible. For daily hours and admission fee,  call 415-556-3002. (National Parks Conservation Association Information. Hyde St Pier Newsletter).
© Mary Rudge and Paul Cobb.